The present invention relates to surgical articles, and more particularly to surgical drapes.
Before the present invention, a various assortment of surgical drapes have been proposed for use during an operation. Such drapes are normally constructed with a sterile main sheet of flexible material which is resistant to passage of bacteria and body fluids. The main sheet is placed over a patient with a fenestration in the sheet located over a surgical site, and the operation is performed through the fenestration. The main sheet is intended to serve as a barrier between the patient's body and operating room personnel in a region around the surgical site, and thus prevent contamination to the patient's body. However, due to the irregular contour of the patient's body, it has been found that the drapes frequently do not conform to the shape of the body, thus causing formation of gaps between the fenestration edges and the patient's body adjacent the surgical site. As a result, the surgical site is not isolated from the remainder of the patient's body, which increases the possibility of contamination to the site. Moreover, the gaps permit runoff of body fluids from the site between the drape and patient's body.